Joseph Julian Soria

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Max played an important role as a working dog in the US military, but he is sent back from his service in Afghanistan following the traumatic loss of his beloved friend and handler, Kyle Wincott. He is brought into the care of the soldier's grieving family, but, frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after his master's terrifying death in an explosion, Max proves to be difficult to integrate into regular society. However, it soon becomes clear that he wants to be loved again, and forms a heart-warming bond with his former owner's younger brother Justin as they each do their best to heal each other's broken hearts - and that means embarking on some rollicking adventures.

Matthew is a preacher of the Lord who finds himself questioning faith when he is confronted by a street preacher carrying a large wooden cross. He decides that belief in God requires action, and he attempts to find new ways of reminding people that belief is forgiveness, redemption and unconditional love. Meanwhile, a couple mourn the untimely loss of their daughter, a woman finds herself on the street with her child, a man miraculously recovers from a coma in his hospital bed while a doctor questions whether it should be God who gets the credit or him. Then there's two partners in crime, who find themselves making the wrong decisions and paying for it. All of these people need guidance from God, and it's Matthew who has to be the one to lead them to it. Will the power of the cross, ultimately, save them all?

Upon first arrival at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Private Amy Cole (Kristen Stewart) is given a set of strict instructions: refer to the people in cells as detainees, not prisoners; do not let the detainees know anything about you or get inside your head; and understand that they are in a war zone. Unfortunately, these rules start to become stronger enforcers of the idea that 'black and white' state of affairs are entirely fabricated. As Cole steadily befriends a man named Ali (Peyman Moaadi) who is kept confined in one of the cells, she begins to realise that outlines of good and bad are totally askew in this weird and alien place.

Straight-A student and valedictorian Henry Burke is set to gain a scholarship into university, things really couldn't be better for him. However when he finds himself in detention it brings on a chance meeting with one time friend and prominent stoner Travis Breaux that leads to another chance meeting, this time with Mary Jane. His first time with the drug looks to be a positive one, however this is soon marred the next day as his school principle institutes a zero policy drug policy and administers a mandatory drug test for all students.

Henry is caught between two opinions: fail the drugs test, get expelled and lose his scholarship to MIT or team up with Travis to beat the system. Not wanting to jeopardise his future without a fight, the duo team up to steal a high powered blend of ganja from law student turned drug dealer Psycho Ed and spike the school bake sale's brownie supply, getting the whole school - faculty included - to a whole new level of stoned. With every brownie consumed the boys have to contend with the intoxicated student body as well as an enraged Psycho Ed who really starts to live up to his name as he tails the pair for stealing his stash. The stakes are high as they must find a way to keep their half-baked plan from going up in smoke.

Andrew Fleming's Hamlet 2, a hot potato at this year's Sundance Film Festival which was purchased by Focus Features, takes nothing seriously and that should be taken both literally and pervasively. The humor has an illimitable ardor for defecating on political correctness but it has a similar indifference toward any sort of continuity in filmmaking, storytelling, or style. Written by Fleming and Pam Brady, the film brandishes the sort of overtly offensive, partisan political taunting gags and guffaws that one might find on Comedy Central's South Park, the show Ms. Brady writes for regularly.

In the Mesa high school in Tucson where Fleming sets his gonzo theatrics, culture is either alive-and-well or being beaten to death with a sack full of cantaloupes, depending on who you talk to. The drama department has just finished a stage production of Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich, under the tutelage of Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan). An actor who hit his peak on commercials for herpes medication and Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer (two products that aren't always mutually exclusive), Marschz has moved his wife (Catherine Keener) and random friend Dave (David Arquette) to Arizona to teach acting. It's the first day of the new semester when Marschz finds out that his class has grown from a closeted homosexual (Skylar Astin) and a goody-two-shoes (Phoebe Strole) to an entire class made up mostly of Latino outcasts and some white dude who has a jones for rave culture. It's no small wonder that Marschz's dementia, once goofy and lovable, becomes unstable and leads concurrently to the attempted dismantling of the drama department and the writing of Marschz's titular brainchild, Hamlet 2.